Tetragonula carbonaria

These are small, dark bees about 4 to 5 mm long.

It lives in coastal areas of eastern Australia, from Queensland to southern New South Wales.

The queen lays a single egg in each brood cell already stocked with honey and pollen, and a worker quickly seals the cell.

Nests are usually in the trunks of large trees and can hold several thousand bees.

Nests are made of wax and resin, with a spiral brood comb, in standing trees (living or dead) averaging 55 cm across, or in specially built boxes.

Pollen and nectar are kept in pot-like structures near the outer edge of the nest.

Recorded flower visits include fruit trees, sunflowers and many native plants such as Eucalyptus, Banksia, Melaleuca, Telopea (waratah) and Xanthorrhoea (grass trees).

Its brood comb can form a spiral or even a double spiral, built in layers as workers add new cells to the edge of each terrace.

Workers can lead nestmates to good food sources using a chemical scent trail.

Colonies can be attacked by the related Tetragonula hockingsi in a series of aerial battles; scientists say many features of these fights remain unexplained.

Like other Tetragonula bees, it has no sting and is harmless to people.

It makes a thin honey that can be eaten as bush tucker, and it is also known as the sugarbag bee.

In macadamia orchards it mainly collects pollen and touches the flower's stigma closely; caged flowers visited only by these bees set as many nuts as open flowers.

It is increasingly used as a managed pollinator in Australian macadamia orchards, where newly placed colonies at first favour macadamia pollen.